When All is Said and Done
by AbyssKeeper
Summary: A brief look at what happens after the heroes settle down.


It had been a long and terrible fight, but they had finally succeeded. The cries of Orphan dying echoed in their minds as they looked up at Cocoon, the now crystallized world. It silently stood atop Gran Pulse, a testament to what a small group could accomplish. Many memories about the two true heroes came forward, meeting them for the first time, Lightning slapping Fang in Palumpolum, Fang and Vanille reuniting on the Palamecia, the long journey through Gran Pulse, Oerba, and many more. The four remaining l'Cie said a silent prayer to the goddess before bidding their farewells to their two friends that sacrificed themselves to save the world of their enemies.

"Fang, Vanille... Thank you for everything. We'll miss you." Lightning quietly said to herself.

"What? Why do I have to die?" the dark haired girl asked with a mad tone.

"You're not dead, you're in crystal sleep, stupid," The pink haired girl shot back.

"Don't call me stupid, you idi-" The dark haired girl didn't get to finish her sentence as the pink haired girl tackled her.

The two girls were pulled apart by the older dark skinned man that had, unfortunately, been conscripted by the others into babysitting. Within seconds they were wrestling again and the dark skinned man gave up with an audible sigh. He got to his feet and went into the house to retrieve their parents. Well, the pinkette's parents and the dark haired girl's guardian. He found them in the dining room, at the table along with the a few others, a couple of them being his cousin, Barret, and his mentor for piloting, Cid Highwind. The blond with spiky hair and the man with long messy black hair looked up at him, sighed and climbed out of their chairs. The three men went to the back yard and the moment they stepped out of the house, the pinkette, and the dark haired girl looked up at them and stopped fighting.

"Now girls, what do you have to say?" the dark skinned man said.

"Sorry for fighting, uncle Sazh," the two girls said in unison.

"Not to him," the blond with spiky hair added.

"Sorry, dad. Sorry, uncle Vincent," the pinkette said.

"Sorry, uncle Cloud and Vincent," the dark haired girl said with the pinkette.

"Why are you apologizing to us?" Vincent questioned.

"I'm not saying it to her because she was being stupid!" the pinkette shouted.

"She said I was dead in our game!" the dark haired girl cried out as well.

"No! I said you were in crystal sleep! There's a difference, stupid!" the pinkette snapped back.

"Claire! Do you want to be grounded?" Cloud barked. The girl shrank back and turned to the other after a moment.

"I'm sorry for saying you were in crystal sleep, Fang," Claire said quietly.

"It's okay, Claire," There was an awkward silence between them for several long seconds before Fang poked Claire's head and smiled as the other girl gave her a curious look "You're it!"

Fang took off with Claire hot on her heels. The other children, a blond boy, another boy with platinum-blond hair, and a redheaded girl, also started running around the yard. Cloud felt a small smile grow on his face when he noticed Vincent watching Fang play. He kind of felt sorry for the gunslinger as Fang, Vincent's grandniece, was his last living relative, orphaned by Deepground, and because of Chaos, Vincent would watch her grow old as he did not age at all. When asked about that, Vincent always said that since he was immortal, he may as well do some good with the time he has.

"Thanks for looking after them, Sazh," Cloud said to the older man.

"No problem."

"Where's Dajh?" Vincent asked.

"He left went to play with Denzel a while ago. I would have went back to you guys, but they begged me to stay," Cloud and Vincent lightly laughed with Sazh.

"What about Serah?" Cloud inquired about his younger daughter.

"Marlene took her to the store," Cloud nodded at Sazh's words.

"Let's go inside, I need something to drink," Sazh said as he pushed past Cloud and Vincent.

**Several Hours Later...**

Tifa waved to Barret and Marlene as they climbed into Barret's car and started off home. Vincent chatted lightly with Cloud as he gathered his items as he got ready to leave. He told Fang and Vanille, a girl that was orphaned by a house fire that he adopted so Fang would have more of a family, to get ready to leave and they disappeared to get their stuff. However, they returned empty handed and with Claire and Serah with them.

"Mommy," Serah said to Tifa in the cutest voice she could muster "Can Fang and Vanille sleepover?"

"Only if it's okay with Daddy and uncle Vincent," Tifa replied.

"Sure," Cloud responded.

"I don't see why not," Vincent said as well.

The four young girls cheered and sprinted back upstairs to Claire and Serah's room. Tifa watched them go then turned back to Cloud and Vincent with a not impressed look. Cloud and Vincent looked to each other then back to the martial artist, utterly confused. Tifa sighed before explaining.

"That was my cue for no or not tonight. You two spoil them too much."

"We just haven't fully adjusted to being parents," Vincent answered for him and Cloud. Tifa just rolled her eyes "I'd best be off. Tonight will be a good opportunity to give Cerberus a workout."

Cloud and Tifa waved him off and went back to the living room and turned on the television. They flipped through channels until landing on a show they both enjoyed to some degree but they were not paying attention to it. Every now and again a loud thump could be heard from the girls room and each time it happened, Cloud and Tifa gently laughed. Tifa leaned against the blond, placing a soft kiss on his cheek, and Cloud wrapped his arm around the brunette's shoulders.

"Do think we should ever tell them?" Tifa asked. Cloud knew exactly what she was referring to.

"No," He replied sternly.

"Are you sure? They're bound to find out eventually."

"If that happens, they will be old enough to know why we never told them about Sephiroth, Geostigma, or Deepground."

**Meanwhile Upstairs...**

"Can you imagine it?" Fang said as she lay on a pile of blankets on the floor beside Claire's bed.

"What?" Serah asked.

"Going on an awesome adventure and being a hero. It would be so cool," Fang said with a big childish smile.

"It would. Fighting big monsters, lots of enemies, and finally killing an evil villain. I wish I could be a famous hero," Claire also said with a smile.

"Can you just imagine being the one to save the world from a mad man?" Fang quietly speculated.

"Or some kind of magical being that tried to make people slaves?" Claire added.

"Hey!" Vanille squeaked out, suddenly changing the topic "Think we can get Nanaki to play with us next time?"

"That would be so much fun!" Serah squealed.

"Yeah, he can be the beast that some brave heroes have to defeat to rescue a princess!" Fang said with glee.

The four girls spent the next hour and a half brainstorming ideas for their next adventure game. It was only when Tifa came in and told them kindly that it was time for bed that they finally stopped and went to sleep. When Tifa climbed into bed with Cloud, she tightly hugged her pillow as she began the nightly routine of struggling to find sleep. Every night she was plagued by the memory of getting slashed by Sephiroth in the Nibelheim Reactor and watching that silver blade pierce Aerith's chest. The memories morphed into images of the same things happening to her daughters until she felt a strong arm wrap around her middle and Cloud gently whisper to her.

"It's okay. I'm here to protect you and I will never let anything happen to our daughters."

**So this is just some random** **idea I got while writing the next chapter to Daughter of an Angel. This is supposed to be a oneshot but I might be able to be persuaded to add an extra chapter or two sometime in the future. I doubt you will be able to, and if you do try, you will have to give me a prompt or something.**

**Please leave a review.**


End file.
